The Salon Stage of Beijing Dance Academy was packed with the audience on the evening of September 17. The first co-creation work “The Cradle” by the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union was performed at Beijing Dance Academy. Academy President Guo Lei, Vice President Wang Wei, Deputy Party Secretary Liu Lan, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Division of the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau for External Cultural Relations Guan Xin, officials from the Embassy of Slovenia as well as students from the Academy watched the performance.

　“The Cradle” is a cross-cultural work in a real sense, designed and created by Slovenian choreographer Gregory and Affiliated Secondary School of Beijing Dance Academy’s teacher Tan Hao. 12 dancers from Slovenia, Macedonia, the Czech Republic and China participated in the choreography through contact improvisation. It was presented by the body expression “cultivated” according to different cultural backgrounds. From the work, it can be seen that the choreographers attach importance to the movement of the dancer’s body. In the space outside the body, dancers interact with others to find new contact points for unlimited possibilities. Through the imitation of body actions, there is a fast transition to the actions of another person and the changes. Behind this is a choreography view underpinned by the view on body which we may not be familiar with. It changes our view that we often regard the body as a “tool” for clear statement and expression of meaning.

This is in fact a manifestation of viewing the body as a medium that can interact with the present, the surrounding environment, and the “people” in the same spatial field. For the “The Cradle”, it is not necessary to consider what your action is meant to express and how to endow your action with specific meaning. Instead, you need to follow your body to the greatest extent, so that it is in a naturally flowing process and gradually “forms”, seeking the link with the external space and with others. As Ludwig Wittgenstein put it, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” Through the “The Cradle”, we can see the body of dancers “cultivated” under different cultural backgrounds and explore the world, stories and feelings of interest to us.

“The Cradle” is the first co-creation work following the establishment of the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union by Beijing Dance Academy with art institutions from 14 central and eastern European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia under the Belt and Road Initiative. Starting in March this year, the Graduate Department of Beijing Dance Academy and Slovenian dance producer Ms. Natasha produced the “The Cradle” after a month of collaboration, training and performance. The work was well received at the Slovenian Art Festival and the Macedonian Art Festival in the first half of the year. We hope that the program “The Cradle” leads to more and better cross-cultural dance works.

(Graduate Department  Author /Xu Hang, Liu Mingming  Image /Mou Ke)